Jenay Beer and fellow UGA faculty member Hitesh Handa have been selected as UGA’s inaugural Innovation Fellows for fall 2019. Throughout the semester, the pair will receive a crash course in technology commercialization and learn how they can shape their research programs to more effectively align with industry priorities and, ultimately, serve the public’s needs. …
Doctoral student Jessica Shotwell is passionate about public health and is researching ways to facilitate and improve health care systems and health communication platforms so people receive equitable and equal health care. Hometown: Winsted High school: Gilbert High School Current employment: UGA Experiential Professional Development (xPD) summer intern for The Office of Industry Collaborations. Doctoral …
Jenay Beer has been thinking about how people interact with robots since she was a kid. She grew up watching Star Wars, fascinated by the way R2D2 “beep-booped” his way through conversations with other characters, and The Jetsons, where Rosie wheeled about, frenetically managing the family’s futuristic home. Now, as an assistant professor and researcher at UGA’s Institute …
During the holidays, people suffer more, especially older adults No one likes to be lonely, especially around the holidays. But for most of us, once the decorations are packed away and life returns to the normal routine, the feeling passes. Yet, more and more people, particularly older adults, are grappling with loneliness year-round, and a growing …
Researcher Jenay Beer specializes in assistive technology. Her work aims to ‘put the human back in the engineering equation’ and help developers optimize new technology to match their users’ needs. As an IOG faculty member, she’s often asking how can this tech help older adults be healthier, happier and safe. Jenay recently talked with WUGA Health Desk …
As an assistant professor in the Institute of Gerontology and director of the university’s Assistive Robotics and Technology Lab, Jenay Beer conducts research at the intersection of social science and technology. Where did you earn degrees and what are your current responsibilities at UGA? I earned my Ph.D. and master’s degree in engineering psychology at the Georgia …
With institutional roots dating back over 50 years, the Institute of Gerontology (IOG) at UGA’s College of Public Health (CPH) is at the forefront of aging research, and as the first baby boomers begin to retire and hit ‘old age,’ faculty at the IOG seek to reframe what it means to age. “We want to …
After more than a year of work, researchers at the UGA show that making simple dietary changes can make big differences. You really are what you eat, according to UGA researchers who studied UGA students and seniors from the community for a year. Professor Lisa Renzi-Hammond says both the students and adults over 60 who …
The Institute of Gerontology is pleased to announce that two UGA gerontology students have been awarded the recipients of the Mary Ann Johnson Aging and Health Graduate Scholarship this year. They are: Taylor Kennedy, a dual degree student working on her MPH in gerontology and MSW, and Jessica Smith, who is working on her MSW …
Housing and health are essential to overall well-being, a fact as true for animals as it is for people. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Georgia is proposing a unique solution to help older adults living alone at home establish new social bonds by pairing them with homeless foster cats. Funded by …